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IOC negotiates with Reliance for cheap cooking fuel
Reliance Capital to buy AMP Sanmar
BHEL divestment issue awaits govt nod
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EPF board meet put off
PowerGrid to fund project in Bhutan
Banks’ NPAs total Rs 58,091 crore
Govt to sell
minority stake in profitable PSUs
L&T to exit from tractor business
Nestle plans Rs 100-cr unit in Uttaranchal
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IOC negotiates with Reliance for cheap
New Delhi, July 29 “We are in talks with Reliance for volume discounts,” IOC chairman S Behuria told reporters here. IOC, which last fiscal got some Rs 150 crore of discount of about 3.4-3.5 million tonnes of LPG and kerosene it bought from Reliance, this fiscal wants the private sector refiner to share at least one-third of the Rs 92 per cylinder loss on LPG and Rs 11 a litre loss on kerosene sale. “There are various options and proposals currently being discussed. I would not like to elaborate on it,” he said. IOC Director (Finance) S V Narasimhan said IOC in 2004-05 is likely to buy 1.1 million tonnes of kerosene and 2.6 million tonnes of LPG from Reliance. “They (Reliance) have said they can give up to 4 million tonnes (of LPG and kerosene).” IOC is short in LPG and kerosene production and hence buys the two mass consumed cooking fuel from Reliance. It is picking smaller quantities of petrol and diesel from Reliance to meet the clean fuel requirements in the interim period to some of its refineries being upgraded to produce such fuels. Mr Narasimhan said refinery transfer price of LPG and kerosene had been frozen since March to minimise its losses. IOC lost Rs 1,277.91 crore on sale of kerosene in April-June quarter and Rs 554.67 crore on LPG due to government disallowing any retail price hike in line with the rise in cost of raw material.
Suffers first-ever loss
IndianOil Corporation (IOC) has reported the first-ever net loss of Rs 54.23 crore in the first quarter as against a profit of Rs 1,472 crore in the year-ago period. However, the company’s sales rose to Rs 38,624 crore from Rs 31,651 crore a year earlier.IOC, whose gross refining margin in April-June fell to $ 6.16 per barrel from $ 6.87 during corresponding period last year, had been facing a rise in crude oil prices of late, Mr Behuria said. After last month’s Rs 2.50 per litre increase in petrol and Rs 2 a litre hike in diesel prices, the company earned a revenue of Rs 1,800 crore in July. IOC’s subsidiary IBP Co ltd posted a net loss of Rs 233.97 crore this fiscal as against Rs 8.65 crore loss in April-June quarter last year. “Input cost (crude oil price) has further gone up and there is no respite on retail pricing front. Obviously it will have an impact on our projects. We cannot sustain operations if we are not able to generate investable surplus,” he said. The Rs 3,194.52 crore under-realisation on petrol, diesel, LPG and kerosene was after Oil and Natural Gas Corp (ONGC) and GAIL chipping in Rs 1,674.67 crore subsidy, without which IOC losses would have been close to Rs 1,000 crore. “We have Rs 7,500 crore of ongoing projects and have planned investments of Rs 35,000 crore over the next five years as part of our corporate plan to become a $ 60-billion company. With these kind of losses, obviously it is not possible to fund them and we will be forced to re-consider some of them,” Mr Behuria said. He said petrol is currently being sold at Rs 3.63 a litre below the cost, while diesel was under-priced by Rs 4.15 a litre. LPG is being sold at a loss of Rs 92 per cylinder and the company was losing Rs 11 on sale of every litre of kerosene.. IOC sold 11.85 million tonnes of petroleum products in the domestic market, besides exporting 0.55 million tonnes in the first quaarter of 2005-06. Its seven refineries together achieved a throughput of 9.18 million tonnes and the pipelines network transported 11.13 million tones of crude oil and products.
HPL to encash IOC cheque
In a new turn of events, Haldia Petrochemicals Limited (HPL) has agreed to encash a cheque for Rs 150 crore issued by IndianOil Corporation (IOC) for picking up 7.5 per cent stake in the company. The HPL’s decision coincided with the West Bengal government deferring its decision to sell 36 per cent stake to The Chatterjee Group (TCG). The sources in WBIDC told PTI that the HPL would encash the IOC cheque before it expired on August 18. The IOC had issued the cheque dated February 18 this year, although the HPL management did not encash it due to opposition from TCG, the principle promoter of HPL with 61 per cent stake. The oil PSU had also sought the intervention of Department of Company Affairs (DCA) in resolving the issue, followed by a recent visit of its chairman Sarthak Behuria who had urged chief minister Buddhadev Bhattacharjee to persuade the HPL management to encash the cheque.
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Reliance Capital to buy AMP Sanmar
New Delhi, July 29 Active discussions are on and an announcement is expected shortly, a spokesperson of Reliance Capital said. They said Reliance Capital would be acquiring the stake of both Australia-based AMP Group and Chennai-based Sanmar, which have 26 per cent and 74 per cent, respectively. Although there were speculations that acquisition, close on the heels of taking over of Adlabs by Anil Ambani group, could be anywhere in the vicinity of Rs 300 crore, company officials did not talk about any figures. Meanwhile, Reliance Capital informed the stock exchanges that "the company's subsidiary, Reliance Life Insurance Company is presently in active discussion to acquire 100 per cent shareholding of AMP Sanmar Life Insurance company." AMP Sanmar Life has a capital base of Rs 217.5 crore and recently the foreign partner had announced intentions to quit the joint venture, saying that it wanted to concentrate on the core expertise of wealth management. Reliance Capital sources said it had already applied to the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority (IRDA) for the renewal of their life insurance licence. This would be the second acquisition by Anil, who had recently acquired the country's largest integrated film entity Adlabs for Rs 360 crore and is also on his way to foraying into DTH service. Many, including Aviva had evinced interest in picking up the stake in AMP Sanmar, which has over 5 per cent market share among a dozen private entities. — PTI
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Anil to head Flag Telecom
Mumbai: Anil Ambani has taken over as the chairman of Flag Telecom, an international bandwidth subsidiary of Reliance
Infocomm.
The other board members of Flag include Patrick Gallagher, B D Khurana and Ed McCormack, the company said in a press note today. Flag owns and manages an extensive optical fibre network spanning four continents and connecting key business markets, including Asia, Europe and West Asia.
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BHEL divestment issue awaits govt nod
New Delhi, July 29 "Letters have been received from workers unions and others opposing disinvestment in BHEL. The objections are under consideration. No further decision has been taken in the matter," he said in a written reply. In May this year, the government had decided on an offer for sale of 10 per cent equity of BHEL out of the government's hodling of 67.72 per cent through book-building process.
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EPF board meet put off
New Delhi, July 29 Official sources confirmed that the meeting of the Central Board of Trustees of EPFO has been put off because of "certain technical" reasons. Trade unions sources said they were informed of the development only at the eleventh hour and the officials had not given any reasons. The meeting was convened mainly to arrive at interest rate for the over 4 crore EPF subscribers for this financial year. Trade unions, one of the pillars in the tripartite board headed by Labour Minister, have already pitched for 9.5 per cent interest this year as well, while EPF said it may not be in a position to offer over 8 per cent interest, especially considering that it had already dipped into its reserves. The EPF board had on May 28 recommended 9.5 per cent interest for 2004-05, leaving a Rs 716 crore deficit, which would be covered by dipping into its special reserves of Rs 950
crore. — PTI
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PowerGrid to fund project in Bhutan
New Delhi, July 29 The Bhutan Power Corporation (BPC) on behalf of Royal Government of Bhutan has appointed PowerGrid Corporation of India Ltd as the consultant to execute this work from the concept to commissioning. The agreement in this regard was signed with BPC on July 19. The contract comes close on the heels of a Nepal project of PowerGrid. Yesterday, PGCIL bagged a consultancy assignment from Nepal Electricity Authority for the construction of first 220 KV transmission line in the Himalayan nation from Khimti to Dhalkebar, (75 km). The project cost is estimated at $ 22 million and is being funded by the World Bank. The total consultancy fee is about Rs 1 crore and is being funded by the Nepal Electricity Authority.
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Banks’ NPAs total Rs 58,091 crore
New Delhi, July 29 He said that the Securitisation and Reconstruction of Financial Assets and Enforcement of Security Interest (SARFAESI) Act, 2002, has been enacted to facilitate recovery of outstanding loans. The Act provides for enforcement of security interest for realisation of dues without the intervention of courts or tribunals. The government has also notified the Security Interest (Enforcement) Rules, 2002, to enable secured creditors to authorise their officials to enforce the securities and recover the dues from the borrowers. He said that 29 Debt Recovery Tribunals (DRTs) and five Debt Recovery Appellate Tribunals (DRATs) have been set up all over the country for expeditious disposal of recovery suits filed by banks and financial institutions.
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Govt to sell
minority stake in profitable PSUs
New Delhi, July 29 The government equity in listed and profitable CPSEs may be diluted either in conjunction with fresh equity to be issued by such enterprises or indpendently, Minister of State for Finance S S Palanimanickam said in a written reply in the Lok Sabha. The government has also decided to list currently unlisted, profitable CPSEs, each with a networth in excess of Rs 200 crore, he said. However, specific cases of disinvestment are to be approved on a case-by-case basis, he said.
— PTI
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L&T to exit from tractor business
Mumbai, July 29 The board of L&T has approved the divestment of its stake in L&T-John Deere Ltd, a joint venture with Deere & Co, in favour of the JV partner, L&T Chairman A M Naik said. Apollo Group
Apollo Hospitals Group today said it would utilise the $ 70 million raised through its recent global depository receipt (GDR) issue for the construction of secondary care hospitals, technology upgradation and research purposes. The Group has also signed an MoU with Johns Hopkins Hospital (JHH) for cooperation in clinical service, hospital administration and medical education, research, and setting up of a minimal invasive surgery institute in the country. "We are looking at constructing six to seven secondary care hospitals for an investment of about Rs 120 crore... another Rs 60-70 crore will be spent on advance scientific research," Chairman Apollo Hospitals Group Prathap C Reddy said in New Delhi today.
NASL dividend
NTPC-Alstom Power Services Ltd (NASL), a joint venture of NTPC and Alstom Power Generation AG, Germany, has declared a dividend of 10 per cent for the year 2004-05. The NASL generated a revenue of over Rs 100 crore in 2004-05 from its operations in renovation and modernisation of power plants, and generated a net profit of Rs 3.3 crore during the last fiscal.
Exide investment
Exide Industries Limited, foraying into the life insurance sector by picking up stake in ING Vysya Life Insurance Company Pvt Ltd, has earmarked a total investment of Rs 400 crore for the life insurance venture in the next four years. “We have decided an initial investment of about Rs 250 crore for acquisition of shares and will invest a total of Rs 400 crore over next four years for life insurance from our internal accruals,” Exide chairman S B Ganguly said in Kolkata today.
— Agencies/TNS
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Nestle plans Rs 100-cr unit in Uttaranchal
New Delhi, July 29 The new facility would mainly manufacture culinary products and is expected to begin commercial production in the first half of 2006. The factory, seventh in the country, is being set up in the hilly state to take the benefits of various tax benefits, Nestle India said in a release. The company today reported a 93.5 per cent year-on-year surge in net profit for the second quarter ended June 30, 2005, to Rs 82.77 crore. Net sales rose 19.7 per cent compared to the same period last year to Rs 615.77 crore during the quarter under review, it said. Hindalco profit rises Hindalco Industries Ltd today reported 37.90 per cent rise in net profit at Rs 324.9 crore for the quarter ended June 30, 2005 as compared to Rs 235.6 crore for the corresponding quarter in the previous fiscal. Total income has increased 6.07 per cent to Rs 2241.4 crore for the quarter ended June 30, 2005 from Rs 2113.1 crore in the year-ago period, the company informed the Bombay Stock Exchange. Asian Paints net up Asian Paints (India) Ltd today reported a 32.57 per cent rise in net profit at Rs 44.36 crore for the first quarter in current fiscal against Rs 33.46 crore for the corresponding quarter in the previous fiscal. Total income has increased 27.27 per cent to Rs 516.63 crore for the quarter ended June 30, 2005 from Rs 405.91 crore in the year-ago period, the company informed the BSE. The group has posted a consolidated net profit of Rs 43.78 crore for the first quarter as compared to Rs 32.65 crore for the same quarter in 2004-05. Tata Motors net zooms Tata Motors Ltd today reported a 22.07 per cent rise in net profit at Rs 272.67 crore for the quarter ended June 30, 2005 as against Rs 223.36 crore for the same quarter in the previous year. Total income increased 8.94 per cent to Rs 3936.38 crore for the quarter ended June 30, 2005 as compared to Rs 3613.33 crore in the year-ago period, the company informed the Bombay Stock Exchange. IBP posts loss IBP Company Ltd today reported a net loss at Rs 233.97 crore for the quarter ended June 30, 2005 as compared to a net loss of Rs 8.65 crore for the corresponding quarter in 2004-05. Total income has increased 12.65 per cent to Rs 3,721.81 crore for the quarter ended June 30, 2005 from Rs 3,303.83 crore in the year-ago period, the company informed the Bombay Stock Exchange. Voltas gains 15 pc Voltas Limited, an air conditioning and engineering services company of Tata Group, today posted 14.8 per cent rise in net profit at Rs 16.6 crore for the first quarter of this fiscal as compared to Rs 14.4 crore in the corresponding period last year. Net sales for the quarter increased 31.7 per cent to Rs 455.5 crore as against Rs 345.8 crore in the year-ago period, a company statement said. Panacea profit jumps Panacea Biotec today reported a 145 per cent surge in net profit to Rs 21.40 crore in the first quarter this fiscal as compared to Rs 8.74 crore in the year-ago period. Turnover during the quarter ending June 30, 2005, jumped by 63 per cent to Rs 160.94 crore as against Rs 98.64 crore in the first quarter of previous year. JCT Limited JCT Limited has earned a net profit after tax of Rs 3.70 crore during the first quarter ending June 30, 2005, as against the net loss of Rs 4.26 crore during the corresponding quarter of last year and net profit of Rs 2.10 crore for the full year of 2004-05. The company reported increase in PBIDT of 59.77 per cent and cash profit by 217.13 pc over the corresponding quarter last year. M&M profit grows Mahindra & Mahindra today reported a 40 per cent growth in net profit for the quarter ending June 30, 2005, at Rs 145.3 crore against Rs 103.9 crore for the corresponding quarter previous year. M&M said gross sales and income from operations for Q1 of the current fiscal was Rs 2,049.2 crore as compared to Rs 1,686 crore in the same period last year. “Net sales and income from Operations at Rs 1,811.9 crore for the current quarter registered a growth of 27 per cent over Rs 1,423.2 crore in Q1 last fiscal,”
it said. — TNS, Agencies
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BoB eyes Trinidad
Inflation rises CPI-IW ITC to invest Kanoria Chem Tie-up
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